Contents

History

Purchase

"The wand chooses the wizard. That much has always been clear to those of us who have studied wandlore... These connections are complex. An initial attraction, and then a mutual quest for experience, the wand learning from the wizard, the wizard from the wand."

Harry obtained his wand in 1991 from Ollivander, at a price of seven Galleons, just before his first year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He had tried out many other wands first with little success, but felt a warm feeling upon being handed the holly wand.[1] Despite his wand being brothers with Lord Voldemort's wand, noted by Ollivander after Harry's wand had been chosen, Harry generally did not put much thought into this connection at first, regarding the relationship as something that the wand could not help, any more than he could help being related to his aunt.

In 1995, when Lord Voldemort returned and forced Harry to duel him in the Little Hangleton graveyard, the rare magical effect of Priori Incantatem (the reverse-spell effect) was triggered. Their wands recognised each other as "brothers" and refused to attack one another. A battle of wills began, and Harry's wand forced Voldemort's to regurgitate its spells, resulting in the emergence of the spirits of James and Lily Potter, Bertha Jorkins, Frank Bryce and the recently-murdered Cedric Diggory. After Harry broke off the connection, they lingered for a while to hinder Lord Voldemort and the Death Eaters. This gave Harry enough time to escape.[3]

In the summer of 1997, when the Order of the Phoenix evacuated Harry from 4 Privet Drive, they were ambushed by over thirty Death Eaters and Lord Voldemort himself. When Lord Voldemort attacked Harry, Harry's wand recognised him as an enemy, despite the fact he was using Lucius Malfoy's wand instead of his own, in order to avoid causing the reverse-spell effect. Harry's wand shot "a spurt of golden fire" at Voldemort, destroying Lucius's wand and allowing Harry and Rubeus Hagrid to escape to safety.[4]

Damage

Hermione Granger: "You're still really angry at me, aren't you?"

Harry Potter: "No. No, Hermione, I know it was an accident. You were trying to get us out of there alive, and you were incredible. I'd be dead if you hadn't been there to help me."

— Harry and Hermione after the latter accidentally broke his wand.[src]

Hermione showing Harry that his wand was broken by a curse she used.

On Christmas Eve of that year, Harry and Hermione ventured to Godric's Hollow during their search for Lord Voldemort’s Horcruxes, hoping to speak to Bathilda Bagshot. Voldemort had foreseen Harry's intentions, and had planted his snake Nagini in Bathilda's corpse beforehand. As soon as she had Harry alone, Nagini attacked him. Hermione raced to his defence, using a Blasting Curse to repel the snake. The curse ricocheted, damaging Harry's wand. Harry asked Hermione to repair it afterwards, but it was too badly damaged. Harry was very upset at the loss of his wand, though he was not angry with Hermione, recognising that she had saved his life. Despite its destruction, Harry kept the pieces of the wand in his mokeskin pouch.

Repair

"As his wand resealed, red sparks flew out of its end. Harry knew that he had succeeded. He picked up the holly and phoenix wand and felt a sudden warmth in his fingers, as though wand and hand were rejoicing at their reunion."

During the Battle of Hogwarts in 1998, Harry duelled Lord Voldemort for the final time. As the Elder Wand, which Lord Voldemort wielded, was loyal to Harry, the Killing Curse directed at Harry rebounded and killed Lord Voldemort. Harry then used the Elder Wand to successfully repair his original wand and planned to return the Elder Wand to the grave of Albus Dumbledore.[4]

Snatcher's wand - Blackthorn, 10 inches, core unknown. This wand was stolen by Ron from a Snatcher and gifted to Harry when the former returned to the group. As its allegiance was not won by Harry, the wand did not respond well to him, making all of his spells seem weaker than they had before. It was left behind at Malfoy Manor when the group escaped.

The Elder Wand - Elder, thestral hair, 15 inches. The Elder Wand had a long and bloody history until it finally came into the hands of Albus Dumbledore. Though Lord Voldemort stole the wand itself from Dumbledore's grave, its true allegiance lay with Dumbledore's disarmer: Draco Malfoy. Thus when Harry won the allegiance of Draco's wand, he also won the allegiance of the Elder Wand. However, he was only in possession of the actual wand for a very short time, and performed only one spell with it - Reparo on his broken Holly wand.

Voldemort's wand (possibly) - Yew, phoenix feather, 13 1/2 inches. This was the wand that Lord Voldemort carried for most of his life. After his final duel with Voldemort, Harry likely won the allegiance of the wand (if it was still intact at the time). However, given the fact that Voldemort used this wand to murder Harry's parents, it is highly unlikely that Harry will ever physically possess, let alone use, the wand.

Author's comments

J. K. Rowling has explained her choice of holly for Harry's wand wood:

"It was not an arbitrary decision: holly has certain connotations that were perfect for Harry, particularly when contrasted with the traditional associations of yew, from which Voldemort’s wand is made. European tradition has it that the holly tree (the name comes from ‘holy’) repels evil, while yew, which can achieve astonishing longevity (there are British yew trees over two thousand years old), can symbolise both death and resurrection; the sap is also poisonous. Some time after I had given Harry his holly-and-phoenix wand I came across a description of how the Celts had assigned trees to different parts of the year and discovered that, entirely by coincidence, I had assigned Harry the ‘correct’ wood for his day of birth. I therefore decided to give Ron and Hermione Celtic wand woods, too... I liked having a hidden connection between Harry, Ron and Hermione’s wands that only I knew about (until now, anyway)."[5]